US$197 turned to dust between Itaú-Fairfield-Madoff

Marco Damiani, 247_ This was money that turned to dust. When requesting a statement of his investment in the Fairfield Sentry investment fund, based in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands, in which he invested US$197.999,94 from an Itaú bank branch in São Paulo, client 5003699 was shocked. In the five lines below the heading "Portfolio Details," he discovered that the "Market Value/Market Price" of his investment in December 2008, equivalent to the purchase of 153.6496 shares, was "0,00." Cent by cent, all his dollars, which were there in October of the same year, had ended up, in parentheses, under the heading "Unrealized Gains/Losses." Nothing was left.

At that moment, another investor, harmed by the financial frauds of Bernard Madoff, the former president of the Nasdaq electronic stock exchange who is currently serving a 150-year prison sentence in the United States for orchestrating the largest fraud ever recorded against the global financial system, joined the queue.

Fairfield Sentry was the largest investment fund Madoff operated with. The losses there are estimated at US$7,5 billion.

In Brazil, Itaú was one of the connections between Brazilian investors, Fairfield, and Madoff, offering its clients the possibility of investing in the fund based in the Virgin Islands. "Many managers recommended Fairfield to their preferred clients," says lawyer Paulo Morais, author of the lawsuit that, last week, resulted in Itaú being ordered by the 9th Civil Court of São Paulo to compensate a client who lost R$ 176,8 in the same scheme.

Now, investor number 5003699 from the same Itaú bank also wants his money back. “The statement in Portuguese is further proof that the bank had full responsibility for the investment,” says lawyer Morais, who is also representing the investor who lost US$197.999,94. “He doesn’t want to be publicly identified, but he will pursue the case to the end,” he adds, explaining that Brazilian law allows investments in US dollars through Brazilian financial institutions.

Due to the success he had with his first lawsuit, Morais was also contacted by another investor who also lost around US$200 in investments in Fairfield, made through Safra bank in São Paulo. "Banks cannot evade responsibility for having misled these clients and caused them losses," says Morais. Itaú, through its press office, stated that it would not comment on the matter.